VCs Deploy ‘Kingmaking’ Strategy To Crown AI Winners In Their Infancy
Kingmaking strategy speeds AI startup growth as VCs pour huge early funding to dominate emerging markets.
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VCs Deploy ‘Kingmaking’ Strategy To Crown AI Winners In Their Infancy Kingmaking Strategy Reshapes AI Startups in 2025 The kingmaking strategy is transforming how AI startups are funded, and many readers today are searching for what it means, why VCs use it, and how it shapes early market winners. In the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence, investors are deploying massive sums at earlier stages than ever before, hoping to anoint category leaders long before their products mature. This shift has created eye-catching valuations, intense competitive pressure, and a growing debate about how sustainable the model really is. For startup founders, the question is simple: does kingmaking represent an opportunity or a risk? And for the broader tech ecosystem, does this strategy fuel innovation, or does it distort it? Credit: Nora Carol Photography / Getty Images VCs Funnel Capital Into Early AI Leaders In October, AI enterprise resource planning startup DualEntry became one of the most visible examples of kingmaking in action. The one-year-old company annou…
